Cost of Living in Barcelona
Summary about cost of living in Barcelona, Spain:
- Family of four estimated monthly costs are 2,352.6£ (2,637.7€) without rent (using our estimator).
- A single person estimated monthly costs are 667.1£ (747.9€) without rent.
- Barcelona is 35.2% less expensive than Seattle (without rent, see our cost of living index).
- Rent in Barcelona is, on average, 55.8% lower than in Seattle.
Restaurants |  Edit |
Range |
|---|---|---|
| Meal, Inexpensive Restaurant | 12.49 £ | |
| Meal for 2 People, Mid-range Restaurant, Three-course | 53.52 £ | |
| McMeal at McDonalds (or Equivalent Combo Meal) | 8.03 £ | |
| Domestic Beer (1 pint draught) | 2.68 £ | |
| Imported Beer (12 oz small bottle) | 3.12 £ | |
| Cappuccino (regular) | 1.94 £ | |
| Coke/Pepsi (12 oz small bottle) | 1.87 £ | |
| Water (12 oz small bottle) | 1.32 £ | |
Markets | Edit |
|
| Milk (regular), (1 gallon) | 3.27 £ | |
| Loaf of Fresh White Bread (1 lb) | 1.12 £ | |
| Rice (white), (1 lb) | 0.54 £ | |
| Eggs (regular) (12) | 2.28 £ | |
| Local Cheese (1 lb) | 4.59 £ | |
| Chicken Fillets (1 lb) | 2.97 £ | |
| Beef Round (1 lb) (or Equivalent Back Leg Red Meat) | 4.62 £ | |
| Apples (1 lb) | 0.81 £ | |
| Banana (1 lb) | 0.80 £ | |
| Oranges (1 lb) | 0.68 £ | |
| Tomato (1 lb) | 0.88 £ | |
| Potato (1 lb) | 0.54 £ | |
| Onion (1 lb) | 0.60 £ | |
| Lettuce (1 head) | 0.89 £ | |
| Water (1.5 liter bottle) | 0.69 £ | |
| Bottle of Wine (Mid-Range) | 4.46 £ | |
| Domestic Beer (0.5 liter bottle) | 0.98 £ | |
| Imported Beer (12 oz small bottle) | 1.41 £ | |
| Cigarettes 20 Pack (Marlboro) | 4.46 £ | |
Transportation | Edit |
|
| One-way Ticket (Local Transport) | 2.14 £ | |
| Monthly Pass (Regular Price) | 35.68 £ | |
| Taxi Start (Normal Tariff) | 2.68 £ | |
| Taxi 1 mile (Normal Tariff) | 2.87 £ | |
| Taxi 1hour Waiting (Normal Tariff) | 21.41 £ | |
| Gasoline (1 gallon) | 6.39 £ | |
| Volkswagen Golf 1.4 90 KW Trendline (Or Equivalent New Car) | 22,297.04 £ | |
| Toyota Corolla Sedan 1.6l 97kW Comfort (Or Equivalent New Car) | 22,751.79 £ | |
Utilities (Monthly) | Edit |
|
| Basic (Electricity, Heating, Cooling, Water, Garbage) for 915 sq ft Apartment | 143.01 £ | |
| 1 min. of Prepaid Mobile Tariff Local (No Discounts or Plans) | 0.20 £ | |
| Internet (60 Mbps or More, Unlimited Data, Cable/ADSL) | 33.01 £ | |
Sports And Leisure | Edit |
|
| Fitness Club, Monthly Fee for 1 Adult | 38.95 £ | |
| Tennis Court Rent (1 Hour on Weekend) | 19.86 £ | |
| Cinema, International Release, 1 Seat | 8.03 £ | |
Childcare | Edit |
|
| Preschool (or Kindergarten), Full Day, Private, Monthly for 1 Child | 423.62 £ | |
| International Primary School, Yearly for 1 Child | 9,116.58 £ | |
Clothing And Shoes | Edit |
|
| 1 Pair of Jeans (Levis 501 Or Similar) | 65.22 £ | |
| 1 Summer Dress in a Chain Store (Zara, H&M, ...) | 27.68 £ | |
| 1 Pair of Nike Running Shoes (Mid-Range) | 72.62 £ | |
| 1 Pair of Men Leather Business Shoes | 91.53 £ | |
Rent Per Month | Edit |
|
| Apartment (1 bedroom) in City Centre | 920.63 £ | |
| Apartment (1 bedroom) Outside of Centre | 736.90 £ | |
| Apartment (3 bedrooms) in City Centre | 1,573.73 £ | |
| Apartment (3 bedrooms) Outside of Centre | 1,157.36 £ | |
Buy Apartment Price | Edit |
|
| Price per Square Feet to Buy Apartment in City Centre | 407.14 £ | |
| Price per Square Feet to Buy Apartment Outside of Centre | 254.30 £ | |
Salaries And Financing | Edit |
|
| Average Monthly Net Salary (After Tax) | 1,640.08 £ | |
| Mortgage Interest Rate in Percentages (%), Yearly, for 20 Years Fixed-Rate | 2.17 |
Prices in Barcelona
This city had 3028 entries in the past 12 months by 398 different contributors.
Last update: February 2023
Last update: February 2023
Sources and References
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Distribution of Expenses Using Our Statistical Model:
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Nearby cities:| Cost of Living in L'Hospitalet de Llobregat | 5.50 miles |
| Cost of Living in Badalona | 6.72 miles |
| Cost of Living in Cornella de Llobregat | 7.27 miles |
| Cost of Living in Sabadell | 16.28 miles |
| Cost of Living in Terrassa | 17.03 miles |
| Cost of Living in Tarragona | 63.44 miles |
| Cost of Living in Castello de la Plana | 173.67 miles |
| Cost of Living in Sagunto | 205.23 miles |
| Cost of Living in Valencia | 218.59 miles |
This page in other languages:
 DeutschLebenshaltungskosten in Barcelona
|
 PortuguêsCusto de Vida em Barcelona
|
 ItalianoCosto della Vita a Barcellona
|
 FrançaisCoût de la Vie à Barcelona
|
 EspañolCosto de Vida en Barcelona
|
Prior to BCN I lived in a few different cities in the US (Indianapolis, LA, Chicago). In those cities I never felt comfortable walking home alone at night, homeless & mentally ill were prevalent, parents never let a kid out of sight, men catcall and approach you in uncomfortable ways. I felt always on my guard, even when I lived in the suburbs.
Here in Barcelona it’s the safest I’ve ever felt. Yes, you might get pickpocketed (I haven’t). And there are other crimes. But compared to many many places *outside* Europe, it is very safe. And, as has been mentioned, the affordability depends a lot on your lifestyle. It’s not cheap certainly. But compared with many cities that offer all the things it has (the food, weather, location, safety, mobility, culture, nightlife, healthcare, etc) it is far from the worst.
I’m not saying this to try to devalue anyones opinion. If you feel the city is too expensive, the rent is too high, the salaries too low, people aren’t friendly enough or you don’t feel safe - I respect that. And I’m not saying the city can’t be improved. But I just wanted to offer the perspective of someone who has come to really really love the city. And I think there are many out there who actually would see it as the dream they imagined. As I have.
I'm living as foreigner since 2016 and to be honest with the last two comments, guys if you are thinking to come to live in Barcelona city center alone and do you want a flat by yourself I think with a incoming of 3400€-3800€ it will be fine, in the begining on this Month the prices has been increased.
Hence 1000€ it will be a little bit extreme je.
Simondiy --> if I were you (working remotely) I will go out of barcelona maybe at north (costa brava) and find a good cheaper flat.
as you can see the accomodation on Barcelona has rose for 800(if you have luck) to 1200 [no included other tax and pluses].
take a look on Idealista.com, fotocasa.com, grocasa.com, etc.
good luck
10,000 euro monthly would be more like it especially for 4 people Barcelona is far from cheap.
Barcelona is a great city with a lot to offer. There are plenty of cafes, restos, plazas and bars to enjoy. It has a great quality of life, and that's why so many people keep wanting to move to barcelona. There are qualified jobs, but also plenty of non-qualified jobs.. at the end of the day you have to be agressive and make a good situation for yourself, as with everywhere.
Rents are expensive in comparison to the salaries though. People here tend to be complacent and prefer to fight for the catalan cause as opposed to demanding higher salaries and job security. Apart from that, they are friendly and nice people.
I read all the bad comments here after living here for ~3 years, I'm from Southern Europe, namely Poland. I love the city for it's temperature, and you get plenty nice places to go. However you live here like rat and it's starts with your rathole called flat. In those 3 years I lived in few and visited plenty. Everyone was living in rathole and all of them I know were lucky because everyday I pass people living with ratholes that have absolutely 0 natural light. Now, yes few were lucky and had nice flats but those usually were software developers. Still to them those were ratholes as someone mentioned they did not discovered yet INSULATION here. Neither proper ventilation. I'm earning around 50k gross, I'm paying for flat 800EUR, I'm looking now for a better one and that means to start around 1500 EUR (no insulation). Namely I want to avoid depresive nature of given flat and have at least two choices so I could feel like I'm in control of anything. I telling myself I'm in that great situation that I can afford living here, but oh boy it's not easy. The issue is that they absolutely don't care. The whole city doesn't care. Neither government, or people.
Barcelona is perfectly located on the Mediterranean, except for a couple of very hot summer months, the weather is sunny and mild and it's simply a great location climatwise. Also, despite the Catalans being a bit closed off, unless you come out with the topic of Independendence, people are friendly here, which is, with the sun, what I missed the most from the South. These are the main advantages of the city. One other thing, even if not experienced first hand is healthcare, which is tax subsidised and great quality.
Talking about the shortcomings, these unfortunately outnumber the good part:
- salaries are very low also for experienced workers, with many jobs in IT in the range of the 25k-30k per year gross
- living costs are ramping up, most likely due to rentals being out of control (a surge of almost 50% in the last 4 years was registered) and Airbnb allowing more speculation
- if you check official government stats, except for a few areas such as St Gervasi-Sarria, Pedralbes, Tibidado and some spots in the Eixample, 3/4 of the city report low incomes if not poverty (current poverty rate in Catalunya is almost 30%, which is appaling)
- petty crimes are a thing and the numbers ramp up every single year, making a large portion of the nicest areas risky to tread (Gotic, Raval, Barceloneta, Puerto Olimpico), there's an average of 200 crimes reported to police every hour (mugs, thefts, murders, burglaries)
- noisiest city in EU as for official sources and once you live here, you do believe it! from road traffic to the bar downstairs from you, going through the annoying Airbnb next door or the barking dogs, if you take into account that building insulation is non existent, you'll know what I mean
- job safety in Spain in general is a joke: employers are legally allowed to fire you with neither notice nor a valid reason, which means everyone can potentially be fired at any time, given that dismissal is easy and cheap ( I don't dare to guess what's gonna happen in the next financial crisis)
- looking for a qualified job once unemployed is horrible, sending dozens and hundreds of CVs without a response back and if you manage to get in touch with the recruiter, your salary expectations will be still too high (again, no city for qualified employees looking for a decent career and salary), you may get a job way quicker if you're a mobile/software dev/data scientist, however many of my friends are IT guys here and the salaries compared to Amsterdam or London are less than half of it (mind Amsterdam is about 40% more expensive than Bcn, however average salaries there are 100% higher)
- pollution is high and given it seldom rains, the air smells in many areas
Excuse the long checklist, but I hope my viewpoint as a non IT guy, middle class expat can give you some understanding. At the hand of the day I'm glad I came here to see that, as much as the weather makes it a lovely place, other downsides counterbalance it and that it's not the paradise on earth people expect it to be.
Do you live by the day, feel carefree about the future, don't mind a low salary and a lot of financial distress if you get sunny weather all year long? Or do you perhaps have the luck to work as a freelance for many clients that are Nordics based? In this case Bcn is a great option.
Do you need to plan things ahead, need financial and material stability to maintain mental sanity, do you plan on settling and buying a house of your own, build a family and have savings? If you rely on doing this with a Spanish contract, either you don't move here at all or you move for a couple of years (as @RealTalk suggests) and keep in mind you'll need to leave.
Since I moved here, I have enjoyed every ray of sunshine, however I've never felt so unstable in my life as here: in Northern Europe the weather is crap and people may be more closed off, however you never feel like your career/financial situation is too much at risk. There you feel like you can do better in life, which is something Bcn can't give you.
Best luck to you all!
I have 2 years of experience in Digital Marketing. Is this industry developed in Barcelona? Can I expect to find job easily in the field with competitive salary for Barcelona?
Barcelona is shit for the long-term and ok for 1-2 years max.
Locals aren't too friendly as they see you as a cause of the cities many economical problems.
Salaries are awful, work hours long, rent is super high, apartments are cold as hell in winter time.
Good jobs are hard to come by and there is a surplus of MBA studenty and people with masters willing to work way below their usual fee demands.
The foo and weather is good but thats about it, these locals are so greedy. Don't believe me? just look at the many rental sites and you'll see a tiny room for 500 euro to share in an apt with 4-5 other people...lovely.
My advise is, come for a year or two and then go somewhere better for serious things like pensions, salaries, house prices that make sense etc.
And oh yeah...I forgot to mention the insane amount of theft here.